Clinton Answers Clemency Critics, Says Group Did No ‘Bodily Harm’

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton, facing a growing furor over his offer of clemency to a group of radical Puerto Rican nationalists, defended his decision Thursday, saying they had spent enough time behind bars.

The White House gave its final approval for the immediate release of 11 members of the pro-independence group responsible for a string of bombings in the 1970s and 1980s.

Clinton denied that his decision had been influenced by his wife’s likely run for a Senate seat in New York.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives condemned the clemency offer on a 311-41 vote that was little more than a gesture, since Clinton holds exclusive power over clemency. But in a rebuke, 93 Democrats crossed party lines to side with Republicans pushing the resolution.

“This is the absolutely wrong signal we can be sending to the American people and the absolutely wrong signal to be sending to terrorists around the world contemplating violence,” said Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), the resolution’s lead sponsor.

“There is a feeling of outrage in this country against this action,” said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. The Senate will vote on the issue Monday.

Also on Thursday, two more of the Puerto Rican nationalists agreed to go along with the president’s conditions--which include renouncing violence and limiting involvement in the independence movement--bringing the total accepting the clemency deal to 14, said White House spokesman Jim Kennedy. Fines will be reduced for the two accepting on Thursday, who are not currently in prison.

Clinton said that, while their organization espoused violent means, none of the group was ever convicted of any bombing that caused deaths or injuries.

“They had all served sentences that were considerably longer than they would serve under the sentencing guidelines which control federal sentencing now,” Clinton told reporters.

“They had served very long sentences for offenses that did not involve bodily harm to other people,” he said.